Lost in the Woods
by StardustOwl
Summary: So, I've seen a couple of stories where Skye finds Ward, but what would happen if Fitz found Ward instead... Basically 12 year old Leo finds 17 year old Grant in the woods and tries to put things right.
1. Chapter 1

**_Hi, so this is the first of two chapters. For those of you who are following me to read 'Delusional' I do finally have a draft copy of the next chapter but nothing seems to be working right so you'll probably have to wait a few more weeks if you want something that doesn't sound like it was written by a six year old. In the meantime, I'm writing this to get back into the swing of writing, plus I love the bromance between Ward and Fitz._**

 ** _Anyway, please review, I really need motivation if I'm going to get back into the habit of writing again._**

 **The Middle of Nowhere**

"I think that you should leave," Grant warned.

"Make me," Leo set his jaw and stared, determined, back at him.

"Fine," Grant replied, pulling out his gun and aiming it at the young teen's forehead. "Leave, and if you tell anyone where I am, I know people that can make you disappear."

Buddy whined and gazed at him with a pleading expression, which Grant noted with a frown; Buddy shouldn't have been concerned about the overly inquisitive kid, who had paled and started shaking after Grant's last hostile gesture, heck the dog was more aggressive towards Garrett!

"S.H.I.E.L.D. will know you've killed me, I'm on the waiting list for the Academy, they'll find you," Leo promised, his voice trembling.

Grant flicked the safety on and lowered the gun. "You work for S.H.I.E.L.D. too?" he asked.

"Not yet," the boy replied, sounding more confident now his life wasn't being directly threatened. "They spoke to me in P7…Grade…6, they said that I had potential and maybe, after I've completed my PhDs I could go and study at the academy. My name's Leo Fitz, are you an Agent?"

Grant shook his head. "Grant Ward, and no, not yet," he gestured for Leo to follow him. "I'm going to the Academy as soon as Garrett says that I'm ready," he elaborated as Leo fell into step beside him. "Garrett says that I'm not ready yet, that I'm still too weak to get into Ops,"

"Really?" Leo replied in surprise. "You must have to be really tough to get into Ops then! I'm going into Sci-Tech."

They lapsed into silence as they trudged along the dusty dirt path. Although the presence of another person always set Grant on edge, especially after being alone for so long, he couldn't help but admit to himself that he liked being with this kid, it was nice to have some human contact apart from Garrett, even if he did feel as if his heart were about to explode it was beating so fast.

"Why are you here?" he questioned, realising that, throughout all the confusion that had followed their meeting he hadn't actually found out why Leo had turned up in the first place.

"I was on a bus with some other freshers from my Uni, we're going to a lecture nearby, and, they don't really like me," he paused uncomfortably. "They like to make fun of me, I suppose maybe because they like finally having power over somebody, Mum says they're jealous. Anyway, when the driver left to make a phone call they dragged me into the woods and left me there, I couldn't run fast enough…and…by the time I'd made it back to the road, they were already gone! I don't know why they're so horrible, all I did was try to be nice to them!" Leo desperately tried to control the tears that he knew were about to fall as they had done hours earlier, he was lost, alone, hungry and hours from habitation with no tech and only this strange not-quite-human boy who appeared to live in the woods.

Grant felt his stomach clench with anger, he didn't know why, but he felt an increasing urge to protect the younger teen, maybe, no probably, because he had been reminding Grant of Thomas more and more since they had first met.

 _Attachment is a weakness,_ Garrett had said and Grant nearly bit through his tongue to try to push the memory aside, Garrett wouldn't want Grant to help Leo, but Grant wanted to help Leo. Garrett liked to make random and unpredictable visits sometimes, but it was unlikely to be today, Garrett would never know. "I won't let them hurt you again, I will protect you," he promised rashly and Leo smiled weakly.

"I don't think you will be able to Grant," he said dejectedly. "Besides, it doesn't matter anyway, I'm probably going to miss the lecture now,"

Grant stood there awkwardly, he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do in these situations. He and Thomas would sometimes huddle together at night when Thomas was scared and they knew it was safe, but Grant had made sure never to hug anyone else or make even the slightest human contact when not strictly necessary. It was a weakness, he knew, and his parents would have punished him. He wasn't sure what Garrett would do. Grant put his hand tentatively on Leo's shoulder and smiled unsurely.

"Maybe S.H.I.E.L.D. will let you see an even better one when you join the Academy." Grant offered and Leo sighed. "Would you like something to eat?" Offering people food was polite, he remembered, besides he was hungry, and by the way Buddy was staring at him, Buddy was too.

Leo thought about the hollow ache of his stomach and the dryness of his throat that had started clamouring for water hours before; this Grant Ward seemed like a nice person, if a bit strange, and although he probably had more of an enhanced immune system than Leo if he really did live here like Leo suspected, he would risk diseases from badly cooked food if that's what was on offer.

They walked in silence, there wasn't really much to talk about after all. Grant was uncomfortable and not really sure how to make human conversation and Leo was mildly distraught and somewhat intimidated by this strong boy that could take care of himself and apparently knew how to use a gun.

They reached Grant's camp about 10 minutes later.

 **AoS**

Leo looked around in interest, noting the half built cabin and the battered tent, the neatly organised fishing supplies, the firewood piled in order of size and the… _deer?_ …that had been skewered and was slowly cooking over dying embers. He recoiled in horror.

"Oh God, Grant, why…" he turned quickly away, looking sick and pale.

Grant glanced towards the deer. He mostly felt confusion at how Leo could be upset but vaguely remembered himself trembling, unable to bring himself to make his first kill, until the shaking of hunger and exhaustion became too much and he realised it was kill or die. He had almost eaten that rabbit raw. Now shooting animals was part of his everyday routine, he no longer flinched when their blood ran over his hands and he skinned them, he no longer made a mental apology as he looked through his sight or roasted them over a fire.

"Leo, it's the natural order of life," Grant all but snapped, he didn't mean to be harsh, but Leo needed to leave soon and he needed his strength to do so, the kid needed to face facts sooner rather than later. Grant was a survivor; Leo would need to be one for a while too.

"But," Leo protested. "Can't you eat anything else?"

"No," Grant replied. "I need energy and to be as self-sufficient as possible. If you need food, which you do, you're going to have to eat some of this!"

Leo shook his head weakly.

"Just drink some water while I cut it first," Grant sighed, grabbing a flask and making his way over to the lake, filling the flask up with water then handing it to Leo. "Do you eat chicken?" he asked and Leo nodded. "Well, it's just like that, except the farmer kills the chicken then you eat it, this time I kill the deer and you eat it. Please Leo,"

 _Don't say please, ever, it lets people know that you're weak._ Garrett had told him.

Grant gritted his teeth and quickly attacked the deer with the knife, cutting of chunks of meat and putting them onto two plates. Behind him Leo glanced at the water, grimacing before taking a sip, it tasted kind of funny and he wasn't completely sure that it was safe, but it quenched his thirst, so he drank the lot in a matter of seconds before going to refill the flask himself.

Grant walked over to Leo with a plate. He really hoped that Leo would eat at least some of it as although he did have a few biscuits left he was trying to save them for when hunting didn't go well and he had run out of stolen vegetables yesterday.

"Will you at least try some?" he asked, handing the plate to Leo who nodded warily.

Buddy bounded over to where he and Grant usually ate, to a tree trunk looking out across the lake and Grant followed, sitting down and feeding Buddy some of the deer before eating some himself. He was surprised to find Leo joining him, the kid stared wanly across the lake, watching as the sun cast an orange glow that reflected off the water, making it shine. Grant watched as he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, picking up a piece of meat and biting into it quickly.

He opened his eyes in surprise. "This is good," he observed and Grant drew away uncomfortably, unused to being praised. After that Leo seemed to forget his moral dilemma and dug in ravenously, barely taking time to chew the food.

They sat in silence as the sun set, Grant took his time to finish his meal and then placed it onto the ground, turning to Leo who he noticed had been staring at him curiously for a while now.

"How long have you lived here?" Leo asked the question he had been wanting to for a while.

"About two years," Grant replied after a pause.

"I thought you'd been living here for a while," Leo told him. "Why are you here, how old were you when you first got here, don't you want to leave, you can't be much older than me, why have S.H.I.E.L.D. just left you here?"

"I'm seventeen, I was fifteen when Garrett left me here," Grant began, figuring that it wouldn't matter much if he told Leo this, he was S.H.I.E.L.D. after all, although Grant was somewhat confused by Leo's gasp of dismay, he continued. "Garrett left me here because I was weak, he saw potential in me but if I remained worthless I could never become a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, I need to show him that I had potential. I'm here because Garrett bust me out of juvie, he gave me a new life, a chance to prove myself."

"That's messed up," Leo exclaimed. "You can't just leave a fifteen year old in the middle of the woods to look after themselves, it's wrong and illegal, S.H.I.E.L.D condones this?"

"No it's not," Grant reasoned. "Garrett set me free, he taught me how to look after myself, it's the best thing that has ever happened to me, and of course S.H.I.E.L.D. condones this, that's who Garrett works for!"

"Can you even hear yourself right now?" Leo yelled in frustration. "He's brainwashed you or something Grant, come with me, you don't need him, if you got hurt out here nobody would know!"

"Please keep your voice down," Grant urged, glancing from side to side. "Garrett likes to turn up unannounced, I never know when he's going to arrive, I don't know what he'd do to you if he heard you saying things like that about him!"

"But…" Leo protested more quietly.

"If I got hurt nobody would ever care anyway," Grant continued. "They used to try to make me hurt, now I'm here with Buddy, I'm safer than I've ever been. And you're ten, how would you even know how brainwashing works!"

"I'm _twelve_." he corrected. "But can't you tell he's dangerous Grant, if you're worried about what he'll do to me then he doesn't sound like a good person! I'm sorry people hurt you but if you leave with me I won't let that happen!" he pleaded.

Grant shook his head and scoffed at the plea. "You won't let people hurt me, what, like you didn't let the other students hurt you. How can you protect me when you can't even protect yourself?"

Leo drew away from the malice that Grant's words held. "I won't give up on you Grant," he promised, standing up and sighing. "I'll see you again soon,"

"Wait, where are you going?" Grant had calmed down enough to ask the question just as the younger kid was about to leave the clearing.

"I'm making my way to the next town," Leo said as if it were obvious.

"Don't be stupid," Grant got up to follow him. "It's night time already, it will only get colder and darker and you will get lost and probably ill. You have to stay here,"

Leo looked almost like he was going to argue but then decided against it, deciding that maybe there was some truth to his words. He was slightly chilly already after all.

 **AoS**

Leo listened to the sounds of Grant tidying up the camp as he sat up in the tent, blanket wrapped around him, unable to sleep.

Grant unzipped the tent and stepped inside, staring at the shadow of Leo in surprise. "I thought you'd be asleep by now," he commented.

Leo shook his head. "No, I can't. It's just so different from everything that I'm used to, the sounds, the feel of the air, they're all wrong. Plus I like sleeping on comfortable beds and this, isn't,"

"I guess it would feel weird," Grant agreed. He allowed Buddy to step in after him and then zipped up the tent, talking as he did so. "The first night I was here it rained, I didn't have anything, just Buddy, we sheltered under a tree but we still got soaked. I was so hungry, and cold, I was ill for a while after…" he shivered at the memory.

Leo chose not to comment, realising that Grant would probably have yet another excuse and he didn't want to have another argument considering how awkward it would be if they did.

Earlier Leo and Grant had decided that because of the issue of space and keeping warm, they would open Grant's sleeping bag out and sleep on top of it, its waterproof covering would prevent less damp from seeping through the groundsheet and onto their clothes, and cover themselves with a blanket. Grant lay down next to Leo before pulling the cover over himself, Buddy settled over both of their legs. Leo worried that perhaps he'd lose circulation but as Grant seemed okay with it and Buddy was an extra source of warmth, he guessed it wouldn't be worse than pins-and-needles.

Grant expected himself to take a while to fall asleep, especially with a stranger in the tent, however before long he'd dropped off, comforted, perhaps, by the younger boy's presence, by the fact that he wasn't alone.

Leo, on the other hand stayed awake, his eyes wide open and staring at the roof of the tent, trying to gauge the time from the levels of dim light seeping through the material. Wondering, if the Professor in charge of the University trip knew he was missing, it was likely, but there was a small chance he hadn't been told, wondering if they were actually going to bother to find him, wondering, if his mum had woken up yet, if she'd make her way downstairs in her pale green dressing-gown and would be sipping coffee at the table, wondering if the house felt empty without him or if she was just getting on with her day and valuing the peace and quiet.

At some point in the night Buddy got up off his dead, but presumably warm, legs and lay down beside him, licking the silent tears that streamed down Leo's face, Leo shook with the effort of not making any sound and buried his head into Buddy's fur. Perhaps, he thought, trying not to make any sound was pointless though, given that an amount of time earlier Grant had rolled over and nestled into Leo, who had been able to make out a slight smile on his face in the darkness, any movement he made was surely jostling the other boy anyway.

He had almost got ready to give up on sleep and was thinking about taking a walk to clear his head if he could manage to leave quietly enough when he felt Grant twitch beside him, Leo turned his head to the other side to get a better look at him, Grant felt the movement and grabbed on tighter to Leo, almost hard enough to hurt, his expression seemingly contorted in pain.

"Grant, Grant!" Leo shook him gently.

 **AoS**

 _"Come on Buddy," Grant tells the dog, the day is light and sunny, he throws a stick into the distance and Buddy bounds away, out of sight._

 _The sky grows darker, Grant knows that it has to be foreshadowing, something bad is about to happen. It starts to rain, but suddenly the rain doesn't matter anymore when he hears the shout of a boy, Thomas._

 _He drops the deer he's carrying, conveniently cooked, but who's paying attention to details, and runs round the corner, he's back at the campsite in no time._

 _Someone's laying on the floor, but it's not Thomas, it's Leo, it makes sense. He's lying on the dusty, sun-baked ground, huddled in a ball, sobbing, screaming, begging for the man to stop, he has a gash on his leg, his hands and arms protect his face where he sports a nasty bruise over his right eye._

 _The man turns to face Ward. "You're not Christian." Grant states._

 _"What did I tell you about pointing out the obvious Son?" Garrett asks and Grant shivers. "You're never gonna get to be an Agent if you keep acting stupid."_

 _Grant nods and looks over to where Leo has fallen, crying quietly, his injuries doubled since the last time Grant checked._

 _"Can't you see?" Garrett throws his arm around Grant's shoulders, gripping too tight to wriggle free from, he feels like the action is constricting his throat, strangling him, even though Garrett's fingers aren't even touching his neck. "He's making you weak, you'll go back to how you were; fragile, alone, broken, Grant, you know what you have to do with weaknesses – eradicate them."_

 _With his saviour's ominous words Grant feels the cold metal of a gun being placed in his palm._

 _"Kill him and I might go easy on you," Garrett offers._

 _Grant is paralysed in fear, he can't, he has to, he can't, but Garrett is standing right there, he owes Garrett, he can't disobey Garrett, so… he has to._

 _He raises the Gun, it's the most awful weapon he has ever seen, and points it at Leo._

 _"Grant, Grant!" he screams in fear, Buddy is barking frantically._

 _Everything disappears. Wait, what? Did he kill Leo, no…yes?_

 **AoS**

Grant jolted awake, screaming in terror and lashing out at the nearest object, it yelled in pain and let him go. Disorientated, Grant looked around him in confusion, unable to process what was happening, and scrambled backwards to the corner of the tent, pressing himself into the material that was cold and damp with dew. He curled up into a ball and breathed unevenly, allowing the icy water now running down his hair and back to ground him.

"Grant, are you okay?" Leo asked, he sounded frightened, like Grant felt.

"Yeah," he whispered, not trusting himself to talk any louder without giving away how much his voice was shaking.

"You know that's not true." Leo stated and Grant swallowed, letting people know when you were weak had never been permitted, he needed to show the kid that he could handle this. "C'mon, tell me about it," he crawled over to Grant and sat down beside him.

"It was nothing, I'm fine." Grant insisted and Leo rolled his eyes.

"My mum always says that you have to talk about a bad dream or it will scare you forever,"

Grant shook his head. "I'm not good at talking; I just want to go back to bed."

He got up and lay back down on the sleeping bag, drawing the blanket over him again and closing his eyes, Leo sighed and followed suit. "You know if you ever do want to talk…"

"You'll be there, I know," Grant offered him a half smile, surprised at his own words.

Leo fell asleep quickly, he was exhausted, even though wild thoughts ran through his head about what Grant could have been dreaming about and this time there was no one to snuggle against as the older boy kept as much distance as possible between the two of them.

Grant, on the other hand, took a while to fall back to sleep. He kept seeing Leo's face as he prepared to shoot him and had to keep opening his eyes to make sure that the boy was still safe and fast asleep beside him. Eventually though, he did lose consciousness, he'd had lots of trouble with dealing with nightmares and knew how to push the bad memories aside.

 **AoS**

When they woke light was streaming through the waterproof material, casting a warm orange glow on them both. Buddy was scratching at the tent door, desperate to get out after being cooped up for so long and Grant reluctantly shuffled over to open it.

Blinking in the bright light he checked the position of the sun, his eyes widening when he saw how late it was.

"Leo, you need to get up." the aspiring scientist groaned in response. "I'll make breakfast but you need to be away as soon as possible. The nearest cabin with a phone is 15 miles away." Leo pulled the blanket further over his head at this news.

Grant sighed and went to go fetch the Tupperware containing deer that he had left under some rocks by the lake to remain cool. On his way back he collected some berries and some twigs that looked dry enough to start a small fire.

Just as he had managed to put some water on to boil he heard footsteps behind him.

"Finally!" Grant exclaimed. "I was just coming to-" he cut off in shock, struggling to find words. "…I thought…that you were Buddy, sir."

"Are you telling me you can't tell the difference between me and a dog, boy?" Garrett questioned.

"No…yes…" Grant fumbled with his words, seeing his nightmare more clearly than the other times it had replayed in his head. "…Only when I'm concentrating, you told me last time…that I needed to be able to block out distractions better…so, I've been practicing focusing really carefully, even on small tasks. I've been getting lots better…I just…didn't think that anyone would be around…I didn't think it would matter…I…"

"Stop making excuses, I thought I was training you to be the best?" demanded Garrett. "Or am I just wasting my time?"

"No sir!"

"You need to be able to focus on a mission, but you need to know if someone is behind you, ready to take you out. And you can't make excuses for your failures. Son, trying to explain your weaknesses won't get you anywhere when you're dead."

"I know, I'm sorry…"

"What have I told you about apologising?" Garrett exploded. "I thought I'd told you only the weak apologise, or plead, let other have that kind of hold over them. What has gotten into you?"

Grant tried not to flinch away, but Garrett was still a live wire, he still didn't know the extent of what Garrett would do when angered.

"I thought we'd agreed that you were going to stop acting so patheti…"

"Leave him alone," Leo stepped out of the tent, his voice ringing with determination and glaring furiously at Garrett, his fists balled at his sides.

In a matter of seconds, on instinct Grant had leapt in front of Leo and Garrett had drawn his gun. Grant could barely breathe, it couldn't happen like this, it couldn't, dreams weren't meant to come true, the worst scenario was never actually meant to play out.

"Ward," Garrett gritted his teeth and spoke icily. "Who is this?"

 ** _On that cliffhanger I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and please review. I know it can be really difficult to know what to say but even one word would make my day!_**


	2. Rescue

_**Summary of chapter one:**_

 _ **\- Leo gets chucked off the minibus by bullies from his Uni on the way to a conference in America**_

 _ **\- He runs into Grant and Buddy who are living in the woods and they kind of become friends**_

 _ **\- Grant fears that Garrett will make him kill Leo if he finds out he's here**_

 _ **\- Garrett shows up...**_

 _ **I'm really sorry, I've been working on this bit by bit over the year. I know I said I'd get it done in like a week but life kind of threw a load of hurdles at me. I really hope you guys are still interested to know the conclusion to the story.**_

 _ **Huge thanks to anyone who left a review, followed or favourited! *hugs you all***_

 **Rescue**

"Don't worry," Grant tried to placate him. "He's not a civilian, he's going to join SHIELD too, the Academy, Sci-tech, after he's…"

He trailed off as Garrett interrupted him, demanding angrily. "Then why were you trying to hide him from me?"

Grant remained silent, years with his brother and parents had taught him to think on his feet, to come up with a believable lie in seconds, but he had no clue how he was meant to explain this! "I thought that…I mean, I thought you…" he cut off, he couldn't tell Garrett about his nightmare; what if his saviour thought it would be a brilliant idea to follow through with his dream-plan? Garrett looked at him expectantly. "I didn't think sir, I'm sorr…I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do this on my own, help him, I mean. I wondered if I could hide Leo, maybe like and Agent on a mission, it was stupid, I know, I messed up, I thought I could get something like that past you. I shouldn't have, sir. I want to be the best but, I shouldn't have disobeyed you,"

Grant heaved a sigh of relief as Garrett holstered the gun. He glanced behind him at Leo, who seemed to be looking a lot more relaxed than when Garrett had pulled the gun out and pointed it at his heart.

However, even though the immediate danger was gone Garrett did not stop glaring at Grant. "Do you know what you've done?" he demanded, fury echoing in his voice, Grant only just succeeded in not flinching.

"So, I was right wasn't I?" Leo questioned, triumphantly almost, feeling a lot braver now. "SHIELD doesn't allow agents to be trained like this, do they?"

Garrett sneered at him but nodded. "Shield doesn't have the guts," he confirmed. "But how else was I meant to transform Grant from almost nothing into a perfect soldier, he wouldn't survive the academy now, he's too weak," Grant sighed and looked down, he'd wanted to please Garrett, he had, he'd needed him to be proud, he still did, he'd tried so hard. His mentor shook his head in disappointment. "You know, Grant, I saw how you'd been surviving out here, I thought you had potential, I thought that you had what it takes, guess I was wrong…"

"No, no I do have what it takes," Grant pleaded. "Please, I'll prove it to you, I'll show you, I swear, just, give me one more chance-"

"What did I tell you about begging, boy!" Garrett yelled and Grant fell silent.

"He's not weak!" Leo argued. "I've only known him for less than 24 hours and I can easily tell you that. He can be so much more than you want him to be, Grant, you don't have to stay here and take this, come home with me, please! Be better than he wants you to be, he shouldn't treat you like this."

Garrett rolled his eyes and pulled out his gun again, then smirked at Leo's panicked face. "What? You didn't think I could let you leave after all of this?" he paused, then looked over to the shell-shocked Grant. "On the plus side, Ward, I'm willing to give you a second chance, you'd better not disappoint me again though."

"No," Grant replied, stepping back in front of Leo. "I won't let you hurt him. You won't kill him, or me, you've put a lot of hard work and effort into finding me, training me, you wouldn't want to have to do that all again would you? You shoot Leo, two things will happen, I will leave, and never come back, or you'll have to kill me."

Garrett gritted his teeth, furious at his potential-future-specialist's insolence, he had thought he'd trained Grant to be better than that, to follow orders, to not question or defy him. "Fine," he agreed, he holstered the gun, took a few steps forward.

His fist came out of nowhere and Grant felt himself flying back, falling flat on his back, his head slamming into the ground before he'd had time to process it, his jaw screaming at him. He scrambled to his feet, head spinning, as Garrett gripped Leo's collar.

"Here's what you're going to do," he explained as Leo squirmed, trying to get out of his grip. "You are going to go back to wherever you came from. You are not going to tell anyone about this, you hear me? Especially not SHIELD. If you do, all my hard work and all Grant's hard work here will be for nothing, like the kid says, so I'll have no more use for him you see? I will hurt him, then I might even kill him. Understand?" Garrett tightened his grip and Leo struggled to breathe; wincing in pain and shaking in fear, he managed to nod.

"Good." Garrett growled and threw Leo backwards, he ended up crumpled on the floor, coughing in the dust. Grant went to help him up but Garrett stuck his arm out, glaring at him and daring him to see what would happen if he tried to go past the outstretched limb.

Grant stood there and watched as Leo picked himself up, sending one last furious glance at Garrett and one terrified one towards Grant. Grant nodded, a small smile on his face, one last ditch effort to convince Leo that he'd be okay. Leo ran off down the path into the forest, glancing nervously behind him every couple of steps.

Garrett and Grant waited until he was out of sight, too small to see and covered by the shadows of the trees.

"You are going to regret helping that boy, son," Garrett promised and Grant shrunk away, apologies would be useless, he knew.

The police found Leo two days later, shaking in cold, lying in a ditch at the edge of the road in the pouring rain. He was desperately hungry so the officers handed him the bar of chocolate and a half-eaten bagel. Leo was short and unspecific in his answers, replying vaguely to their questions. He said he'd wanted to go exploring when the bus stopped, that he hadn't thought, he hoped vainly that it would make the other freshers nicer to him.

After hours of questioning at the station they allowed the professor to drive him back to the hotel where they were meant to be staying after the lecture. Missing it hardly seemed important now. He half-heartedly tried to protest when the professor forcibly suggested that he hung out in one of the rooms with the other undergrads.

The room was silent when he walked in, he noticed guilt on some of their faces, he supposed maybe the reality had sunk in and his bedraggled, dirty appearance was making an impact. However, after the professor had talked about the schedule for the next day and swiftly left to find the nearest bar, mumbling about how the police made him waste half of his pint, Leo realised that not enough of them felt sorry for him.

"You had to go causing trouble for us, didn't ye?" one of the students yelled, slamming him hard into the wall and causing pain to blossom in the back of his head. Leo barely registered it. "Do you think, that those days in the forest, have stopped you being a-"

"Lay off," Leo looked in surprise at the guy who had forced the other one back, making him let go of the brutal grip he had on Leo's arms, which had been almost cutting of the circulation and would be likely to bruise. "He's just a kid, we shouldnae done it Jordan."

"Exactly, he's just a kid, we shouldn't have to take care of him, he's not our responsibility, he's just a waste of space!" Leo unconsciously shrank back towards the door.

"Then fantastic, I have the solution," a girl stated, pushing past them, everyone fell silent as the sound of a slap cut through the arguing. Leo held his cheek, gazing up at her fearfully as she grabbed him and dragged him towards the nearest wardrobe. Using her free hand she pulled the clothes on the hangers out and dropped them on the nearest bed, before shoving him roughly in, barely giving him time to move his feet out the way before she slammed the door, taking one of the dresses an threading it through the handles, before tying it in a knot so Leo couldn't escape.

"Out of sight, out of mind," she smirked and everyone returned, some somewhat uneasily, to the conversations they were having before.

Locked in the wardrobe, Leo listened to the loud voices, chatting away for hours, but he barely heard them. Instead he thought of the boy in the woods, how he'd taken care of Leo, given him food, something that none of the freshers had thought to do, but mostly he replayed Garrett's fist in Grant's face, sending him flying to the ground, his eyes alight with terror and pain, though of course he could never be 'weak', so he'd schooled his expression quickly. He thought of the look on Grant's face as Leo had run off, trying to be reassuring, but his eyes had failed him. Leo had failed Grant, he had wanted to rescue him, take him out of there, but instead he had only got him hurt. Perhaps, Leo reflected, that he deserved this, that he deserved everything that the other students were doing to him. Perhaps it was a suitable punishment for being unable to protect his friend.

"You're awfully quiet Leo," his mum commented. The silence, usually broken by his incessant chatter about his newest project, hung thick in the air. It had been over a month and Leo still didn't know what to do. It wasn't as if he could babble about it across the table to his mother, she may not understand words like 'Quantum Field Generator', however she did comprehend the meaning of 'teenager', 'threatened', 'SHIELD Agent' and 'woods', he couldn't guarantee that she wouldn't be naïve enough to contact SHIELD.

"You were excited for the academy, what changed?" demanded his mum, keeping her eyes straight ahead, still tense despite how long they had been driving for, she did _not_ like driving on the wrong side of the road.

"Stuff," Leo muttered, fiddling with his modified SatNav. "Turn off here."

She turned round the corner then pulled towards the edge of the road and slowed to a stop. "Leo, I may not know much about American geography, but I really don't think that this is the shortcut to the academy."

Leo remained silent.

"Look, if you don't want to go to the academy that's okay, it's a really big decision and you're only thirteen. But god, you have a degree already… You have so much potential; this could be your big chance. Just try it," she sighed. "If you don't like it, then, after a few weeks, call me, you can go back to the university and do another degree."

"That's just it mum," he replied, thinking on his feet and really hoping that his plan worked. "I have potential, only…a prototype that I was working on, I lost it in the woods, and I really don't want to start from scratch again, especially as I've lost the original calculations…"

His mother sighed. "Leo, you can't possibly expect to find it in there, besides, I don't want you going missing again, those were the worst three days of my life!"

"But mum!" he protested. "I used my tech, I picked up its signature, I can go get it! Mum?"

She stayed quiet for a few moments, thinking it over. "Okay," she agreed, somewhat hesitantly. "But I need your word that you will be back to your normal talkative self after this,"

"Yes!"

They drove in silence for the next 20 miles, making their way along the long winding road. Eventually Leo called for his mum to stop and the car ground to a halt.

"Thank you!" he grinned, hugging her.

"You're wel…come….l…le..o…" she stuttered, looking confused before crumpling forward onto the steering wheel. Feeling guilty, Leo peeled the sedative plaster that his pen pal, Jemma Simmons, had helpfully provided off his mother's neck and got out of the car. He might have felt awful, however he would have felt worse letting her come with him to rescue Grant. What if Garrett were there, what if Garrett and his accomplice were there, what if Garrett and his hypothetical accomplice and a highly trained team of murderous dogs were there, waiting to rip his throat out?

He followed the arrows on the screen, the SatNav to pointing him towards where he had last seen Ward. It had taken the young scientist a while, but he had eventually used maps to figure out where he had been left and where the nearest water sources to that were, from that, he deduced the most likely location, and here he was. He would drag Ward out of there, and Buddy too, whether they liked it or not. And this time, he had a getaway vehicle.

Grant gasped in pain. Garrett had really stepped the training up a notch in the past few months, and this time, he was required to sew up a wound made by falling whilst trying to remain undetected near some pretty jagged rocks. Garrett said he should have kept his balance better. Grant thought that although it wasn't his mentor's responsibility, it would have been nice if he could have been taught how to do this.

He heard the footsteps thirty seconds before he saw him, it couldn't have been Buddy, he was right beside him, nor Garrett, the steps were too light, too clumsy.

He put down the needle, grateful for a reason to put off the task, and picked up his handgun. Grant's heart filled with dread when he saw Leo's face light up.

"Come on Grant, we've got to go!" Leo urged, beckoning towards the path.

"What are you doing here, no, go!" Grant ordered, flying into a panic, despite Garrett telling him that that was not something a specialist did, ever. "Garret could be back at any second, he's just gone to collect all the weapons, you know what he said he'd do to you. Please, Leo, get out of here, _now_!"

Leo paled at that news, however stood his ground. "Well then, he'll just not have to find me then." He stated. "'Cause I'm not leaving here unless you come with me."

Grant made a split second decision, jumping to his feet and wondering how far you could get with a leg that definitely required stitches, he whistled to Buddy and ran towards Leo.

"Then let's go." he agreed as they sprinted along the path, less than 10 seconds later they heard Garrett's angry yell.

"Kid, where are you?"

"Shit," Grant swore. "Run faster!"

"This is as fast as I can go!" Leo protested, and Grant felt a cross between relief and terror. Garrett could probably run faster than Leo, that's if he knew which direction to follow them in, but then again, Grant doubted if he could have run faster on his leg.

They ran out onto a road and towards a car, Leo yanked open the driver's door. "Mum, wake up, Mum!" he breathed in terror. Grant pushed past Leo, undoing the seatbelt and picking the woman who was apparently Leo's mother up.

"Open it," he ordered, gesturing with his head to the passenger door. Leo obliged and Grant dumped his mother down. "Buddy up," he told his dog, making a hand gesture, Buddy jumped in, moving past Leo's mum. "Strap her in while we move," Leo nodded and climbed in the back.

Grant got into the front seat and turned the key. "Can you even drive?" Leo asked, leaning forward through the gap in the seats as a shout came from behind them, accompanied by a showering of bullets through glass.

"Get back here boy!" they both ducked as glass showered around them and Grant shoved his foot right down onto the accelerator.

"What do we do now?" Leo screamed.

Duck!" Grant yelled, hoping he was going in the right direction as he shot at Garrett through the shattered back windscreen. Garrett ducked out of the way, not that it was necessary, even though he could have just killed them both Grant wasn't sure if he was really trying to kill Garrett yet.

"And now hope he doesn't shoot the tyres!" Grant glanced forwards to make sure he was still going in a straight line. "I just have to distract him enough." He turned round again and shot in Garrett's vicinity, who again ducked for cover.

Grant laughed as the Garrett's answering gunshots faded into the distance. They had got away.

He was free.

Leo fixed his mum's seatbelt in place, thanking every single god he knew of that he had not had time to do so earlier, if that were the case, she probably would have ended up with a bullet in the head. He climbed into the front.

"We need to convince SHIELD he's a traitor before he calls for backup." Leo told him, pulling out a phone.

He dialled a few numbers as Grant looked at him uncertainly.

"Hello, it's Leopold Fitz, I'm due to start at the Academy today. There's a spy in SHIELD, he tried to kill me and my friend…yes I realise you need to verify my story…yes it is urgent! ...what's the highest level I could speak to?" he asked the receptionist at the Academy.

"What are you talking about?" Grant mouthed.

"I need them to stop trusting him, we can explain the real situation when he doesn't have potential backup on call." Leo hissed back.

"Yeah, Agent Romanoff will be fine," he replied to the person in the phone.

"Who's she?" Ward quietly demanded.

"No clue," he whispered. "Apparently she's at the Academy today to train field agents,"

Five hours, seven explanations (including that Garrett, in fact, was not a spy), three lie detectors taken through a mobile phone and one very confused parent waking up with shattered glass all around her and a dog in her lap later they arrived at the Academy. Halfway there they had been intercepted by a team of SHIELD Agents, it took a while for Grant to trust that they weren't there purely to drag him back to Garrett.

As they got out of the SHIELD van they were greeted by a short redhead and someone that Leo recognised to be the head of the Academy, along with a rather large security detail.

"So, what happened," the redhead demanded.

"Agent John Garrett tried to kill us, I rescued Ward from the woods where he had illegally been training Grant Ward," Leo explained.

"He's not lying," the woman announced. "Can we go somewhere where we could discuss this in more detail?" she asked and the security team surrounded them as they walked towards the school.

A few days later Grant lay back on his too soft bed, Buddy in his lap, unable to sleep, he was warm, he was comfortable, he'd had good meals, and his leg properly stitched up and everyone was being so nice and kind, and it just felt wrong. Garrett was going to go under trial the following day, apparently he had been a spy, involved in some sort of Deathlok project which SHIELD was still looking into.

There was a soft knock at the door and Grant was jolted out of his thoughts. Looking through the spyhole he saw that it was Leo and he opened the door. Leo passed an armful of sweets into Grant's arms as Buddy came over to greet him. Leo reached down to scratch him between the ears and Buddy panted happily.

Jemma, the over-protective pen friend who worried over both of them constantly shut the door and they all snuggled together on the bed, Leo in the middle, his arms around both his friends and buddy spread over their legs.

They stayed up until the early hours, chatting about classes and assignments and hellish teachers and, excluding the fact that two of them were geniuses and Grant was easily the most talented student ops had had for a while, it was all just so _normal._

Leo and Jemma slowly fell asleep, lulled by their own techno-babble.

And as he drifted off Grant knew he had never been so safe, so happy.

 _ **Well, you've read over 3,500 words. I would really appreciate it if you could comment with just a few :)**_

 _ **I hope you enjoyed it and it was worth the wait!**_


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